Gulf Publishing and Printing Company

Gulf Publishing and Printing Company (GPPC) is the media house behind two of Qatar’s longstanding newspapers: Al Raya, an Arabic-language daily, and Gulf Times, its English-language counterpart. The company was founded on 1 June 1978 after a founding group came together earlier that year to establish a Qatari publishing and printing company and launch an English-language newspaper. Gulf Times published its first edition on 10 December 1978 as a weekly paper and became a daily on 22 February 1981. Al Raya followed with its first issue on 10 May 1979 and became a daily in 1980. Both publications have played a central role in shaping Qatar’s modern press landscape, acting as key vehicles for government messaging, official narratives and national development discourse.

Media assets

Publishing: Al Raya, Gulf Times

Ownership and governance

Gulf Publishing and Printing Company is a privately incorporated Qatari publisher, but its ownership and governance environment has long been closely tied to Qatar’s political and business elite. The company’s governance is opaque: no up-to-date public corporate filing was identified during the cycle disclosing the full shareholding structure, board composition or succession arrangements.

The company has long been associated with prominent Al Attiyah-family figures. Gulf Times’ own current corporate information lists Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Attiyah as Chairman. Gulf Times also reported in May 2026 that Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, was a board member and Managing Director of Gulf Publishing and Printing Company, publisher of Gulf Times and Al Raya. His role in GPPC, combined with his senior state career, reinforced the longstanding perception that the publisher functions as part of Qatar’s wider state-aligned communication environment.

Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah was one of Qatar’s most prominent public figures. He served as Minister of Energy and Industry from 1992 to 2011, as Deputy Prime Minister, and later as Chief of the Amiri Diwan and head of other state bodies. He died in London on 27 May 2026 and was buried in Doha on 29 May 2026. As of mid-2026, no public information had clarified whether his death triggered any change in GPPC’s ownership, management or succession arrangements, and the company and its newspapers continued to operate.

While registered as a private company, GPPC’s governance remains non-transparent. There are no public records on the company’s full ownership structure, board procedures or mechanisms for editorial accountability. Its long association with senior figures embedded in Qatar’s political establishment has fuelled persistent perceptions of close alignment with the state.

Source of funding and budget

There is no public disclosure of Gulf Publishing and Printing Company’s financial accounts. The bulk of its revenue is understood to come from advertising sales, including advertising from Qatari government agencies and state-affiliated businesses. Informed observers and local experts consulted by SMM in May 2024 and March 2025 indicated that state financial support is also extended to the company, but the precise share of government funding relative to commercial revenue remains unknown. The company does not publish audited accounts or detailed revenue data.

Editorial independence

Gulf Publishing and Printing Company’s editorial content is widely viewed as aligned with government policy. Neither Al Raya nor Gulf Times publishes criticism of the Qatari authorities, the ruling family or core state policy. Editorial decisions are understood to favour official perspectives, and sources indicate that stories perceived as inconsistent with government preferences are systematically set aside.

Al Raya routinely devotes prominent coverage to the activities, speeches and ceremonial engagements of the Al Thani ruling family and state institutions, functioning more as a chronicle of official events and national priorities than as an independent watchdog. Gulf Times similarly gives substantial prominence to official news, government announcements and QNA-sourced coverage.

There is no legal or institutional mechanism to guarantee editorial independence at either publication. Qatar lacks statutory safeguards for media autonomy, and no independent oversight body exists to assess or enforce editorial standards across privately held news organisations. In this environment, GPPC’s publications operate within the boundaries of Qatar’s broader state-aligned media system.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that Gulf Publishing and Printing Company, Al Raya or Gulf Times has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026.

Both newspapers maintain online platforms and have developed their digital and social media distribution alongside their print editions. A notable earlier digital development was GPPC’s 2019 relaunch of Al Raya’s website, mobile application and social media accounts, together with Telegram and WhatsApp news services, upgraded supplements and digital archive features. Gulf Times also operates an active website, e-paper and digital advertising services.

These developments show continuing adaptation from print-only publishing toward hybrid print, web, mobile, e-paper and social-media distribution. However, SMM identified no public framework governing the use of AI in the company’s editorial production, verification, translation, recommendation systems, audience analytics or distribution, nor any public policy on synthetic-media labelling, AI-generated content, source transparency or human editorial oversight.

Classification rationale

Gulf Publishing and Printing Company is classified Captured Private (CaPr), a classification maintained from prior SMM cycles. It is a privately incorporated company rather than a state body, but its ownership and governance environment has long been closely tied to Qatar’s political establishment, and its newspapers maintain a consistently pro-government editorial line that avoids criticism of the state or royal family. With no statutory or independent safeguard for editorial autonomy and no public financial transparency, GPPC sits in the Captured Private category, where private ownership coincides with effective alignment to state interests. The death of Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah during the 2025/26 cycle was a significant governance-relevant development, but no public information identified a resulting change in ownership, management, funding or editorial orientation. The company therefore remains in the CaPr category.

June 2026